S R I L A N K A D E M O C R A C Y F O R U M
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For Immediate Release
6 March 2007

Representatives of Sri Lanka Democracy Forum and Tamil Forum for Peace met with the Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Hon. Bogollagama on his first official visit to the UK on Tuesday, 6 March 2007, at Dorchester in London.

The Foreign Minister was presented with the following three demands to be handed to the government.

1. Purposeful progress should be made on the APC process to bring about state reform through devolution and power sharing. In this connection, the Government should take the lead in canvassing broad-based support for the proposals contained in the Majority Report taking account of the points made by Prof. T. Vitharana.2. The Government should publicly denounce the continuing spate of gross human rights violations including recruitment of child and underage soldiers, arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappearances, and promptly investigate and institute prosecutions where elements within the state enforcement agencies are alleged or suspected to be complicit in such violations.

3. The Government should permit and enable continuing access to humanitarian agencies to conflict zones and facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance, relief and rehabilitation to internally displaced people.
The representatives expressed strong support for the Majority Report of the Experts Committee and the subsequent proposals of Prof. T. Vitharana, but also raised their grave concern about the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation and the humanitarian crisis.
Please see attached statement.

S R I L A N K A D E M O C R A C Y F O R U M
Australia Canada France Germany India Japan Netherlands Norway United Kingdom United States
e-mail: contact@lankademocracy.org fax#: 00-1-646-349-1182 website: www.lankademocracy.org

6 March 2007
Representations made to Sri Lanka Foreign Minister
by Sri Lanka Democracy Forum and Tamil Forum for Peace (UK)

Sri Lanka is at the brink of another catastrophic war and a slide into total militarization of the whole country, lawlessness and severe economic crisis. The ceasefire is in tatters and the peace process is at a dead end with military objectives seemingly predominating developments. The present Government of Sri Lanka has the duty and must show courage and political will to turn these tragic circumstances around by decisively moving in the direction of a political solution to the country’s ethnic problem.
The Dissenting Tamil community and the LTTE

We who are from the dissenting Tamil community and campaigning for democratic values in Tamil politics, reiterate our principled opposition and abhorrence of LTTE terror and its politics of violence that has brought disaster to the Tamil people. For the past few years, we have noted a growing disillusionment with the LTTE amongst the Tamil diaspora communities. The campaigns waged by dissenting Tamil political activists and the activities of Tamil Human Rights organisations have helped in isolating the LTTE internationally.
The APC Proposals

We welcomed with much optimism the Majority Report of the Experts Committee of the All Party Conference (APC). We note that it has considered all the complexities of the ethnic question in Sri Lanka and come up with novel ideas for a political and constitutional settlement of the conflict. We also endorse the efforts of Prof. Vitharana and his subsequent proposals based on the Majority report. We particularly value Prof. Vitharana’s desire to make this process an inclusive process and not a two horse barter between the State and the LTTE, as was the case in the 2002 peace process.

We want to know the progress on the APRC process. The expected date for delivery of the APRC proposals is said to be mid-April. We want the important elements of the proposal such as devolution to the regions with power sharing at the centre to be retained. Our demand is that the government should resist any attempts to water-down the proposals.

No military Solution

We wish to underline that there is no military solution to the ethnic problem which demands a political solution. Experience has shown that the military approach adopted by both the LTTE and successive Governments has not only served to prolong the conflict, but also brought disaster to the country and its people. Experience also shows us that military victories achieved in the battle field in the short term have turned out to be major military debacles in the long term for both sides. The LTTE cannot be tackled militarily fully unless they are also weakened politically. For this, progressing the proposals for a political solution is fundamental.

While we recognise and have consistently condemned the LTTE’s continuous provocations and attacks on the SL armed forces which precipitated the current phase of an undeclared war, we believe that the manner in which the war has been prosecuted has done much to damage the Tamil community’s faith in the Government’s professed intention of seeking a negotiated solution. There is no doubt that the human rights and humanitarian crises precipitated by the presently ongoing military and security operations have served to alienate many Tamils who enthusiastically welcomed the Experts Committee’s Majority Report and the subsequent proposals of Prof. Vitharana.

Human rights crisis

We are very much concerned with the further deterioration of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka accompanied by a rapid rise in arbitrary detentions, abductions, disappearances and arbitrary and extra judicial killings. This phenomenon is no longer limited only to the North and East and Colombo.

While not detracting from innumerable LTTE atrocities, we are concerned with this fast deterioration of the human rights and security situation across the country. Human rights organisations both in Sri Lanka and abroad and other personal correspondence and news reports offer strong evidence that elements within the state enforcement agencies are complicit in the abductions and disappearances, mostly carried out for the purpose of extorting money from the victims. The International Community also believes this to be the case.

It must be emphasised that so far no one has been prosecuted for human rights violations against civilians and non-combatants which in the context of internal armed conflict also fall within the categories of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Karuna faction is now functioning with impunity with assistance from the security forces and is alleged to be involved in many of the recently reported high handed

excesses in the east of the country. The security forces are complicit in the build up of this counter terror to LTTE repression over the Tamil people. This is unacceptable. It is also politically very damaging and destroys any confidence that the Tamil community may have begun to develop in the new efforts at finding a political solution.

Such grave human rights violations from the Government side will drive people straight into the arms of the LTTE
We welcomed the government setting up the Human Rights Commission of Inquiry and other supporting mechanisms to investigate serious instances of gross abuse of human rights. However this would be rendered meaningless if the state is complicit in ongoing blatant human rights violations.

Humanitarian crisis

The humanitarian crisis is beginning to take on catastrophic proportions. The government evacuated people from Muthur, Sampoor, Vaharai and other adjoining areas and reports coming from there suggest that the aid reaching the people is grossly inadequate. The state has special responsibility to these people as they were evacuated for the specific purpose of the SL Armed Forces’ to carry out military objectives. There is much anxiety amongst the people about returning to their homes, about relocation etc.

Tamil Fears

It is clear to us that the Tamil people need deliverance of some kind as they are trapped in the structure of terror built around them by the LTTE. However the counter measures employed by the State, only worsen their plight. Rationally speaking, under current circumstances it is very difficult to prevail upon the Tamil community to place faith in the government’s efforts to abandon their support for the LTTE. It is very important for the Tamil people to feel that the Sri Lankan state treats them as if they were their own citizens of Sri Lanka. The continuing human rights and humanitarian crises only indicate to the Tamil people that they are being treated as if they are no different from the Tigers.
The optimism that Tamils felt when the Majority Report was issued has taken a beating because Tamils now fear that the government is set on a military course while dilly-dallying in relation to the APC exercise and not being decisive about presenting a political solution.

As a matter of urgency, we request the government to take urgent action on the following three matters:

1. Purposeful progress should be made on the APC process to bring about state reform through devolution and power sharing. In this connection, the Government should take the lead in canvassing broad-based support for the proposals contained in the Majority Report taking account of the points made by Prof. T. Vitharana.

2. The Government should publicly denounce the continuing spate of gross human rights violations including recruitment of child and underage soldiers, arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappearances, and promptly investigate and institute prosecutions where elements within the state enforcement agencies are alleged or suspected to be complicit in such violations.

3. The Government should permit and enable continuing access to humanitarian agencies to conflict zones and facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance, relief and rehabilitation to internally displaced people.